Ghosts

[H2O Man]

"Have you ever seen someone who seemed a ghost of the person you remembered?"
--The Autobiography of Malcolm X; page 216.

There is a section in Malcolm’s autobiography where he talks about visiting some of his old street hustler friends, after he had become a well-known minister. Malcolm spoke about the amount of human talent that is wasted in the margins of American society. The "ghost" he spoke of was a man called West Indian Archie, a numbers’ runner who had a highly developed skill with math. As Malcolm noted, this skill was not used in a manner that benefited Archie for long, or his community at all. In fact, Malcolm tells about a "nickel-and-dime" hustler, who was found dead, who had over $760,000 in cash in his apartment. That illustrates one way for a poor neighborhood to remain impoverished.

I was thinking about this yesterday afternoon, as I visited someone I knew well when we were young "hoodlums." My old friend is a good example of the loss of potential that is found in communities across this country. When I was a homeless teenager, Lee and a couple other guys let me stay at their apartment. We were wild teenagers, and lived on the edge. Of the group of people we hung out with, very few changed their behavior in a positive way. I’m the only one that I can think of who went on to college. Some worked and invested their earnings in life in the fast lane. Some went to jail, a few to prison, and still others to a cycle involving rehab and psychiatric centers. Most of them are dead now.

Lee lived on the margins. He worked, and though he was the type of person who would be considered anti-social by polite society, he adhered to his own values of right and wrong, and his the hustlers’ code of conduct. A few years ago, while taking his grandchildren swimming, he slipped on a wet rock, and was seriously injured when he smashed the back of his head falling backwards. He was in a coma for a period of time, then spent an extended period in hospitals and physical rehabilitation centers. Now, he lives alone, in an efficiency apartment. He is in a wheel chair, and has lost the use of his right leg and arm.

At this point in life, I prefer to live a fairly secluded lifestyle. Lee is one of the few people I go to visit, though I do not see him often. But after seeing him yesterday, I can’t help but think about how his life could have been very different, were he to have had different opportunities as a little kid. He was one of the few kids that I remember being from a single-parent family, back in a time when it was far less common than today. Now, I’m not saying "maybe he’d have cured cancer," or that he wasn’t responsible for his behavior as an adult. But things could have been different, and the strengths he had could have enriched the community he lived in.

Those who read Malcolm’s book know that when he was in junior high school, and a teacher asked the class what they wanted to be when they grew up, Malcolm said an attorney. The teacher told him that was "unrealistic" for a black teen. To the end of his life, Malcolm would wonder about if things had been different ….for example, if that teacher had encouraged him, rather than crushing his dream. And he wondered what type of attorney he might have become.

Some young people are lucky enough to have at least one adult lend the support they need – maybe a parent or relative, a teacher or a coach – that helps them reach their potential. Others don’t. And likely, the majority of people fall somewhere in the middle.

I’m curious if DUers can remember what they dreamed of being as a kid? What adults helped them? And what ones might have done the opposite? I’m asking that for a couple of reasons. First, just to find out what experiences people who are progressive/liberal democrats may have had. And second, because I think that the problems are society is confronted with can only be dealt with by developing the full potential of the members of this society – and so much of that is wasted.

Of course, it is possible that this is the type of thing that only I find interesting. Maybe I need to get out more!